@ Valkeiper2012: “Seems every webcomic I read is trying to hop on the ‘let’s have a lessy couple’ bandwagon.”

It’s called “reality.” The incidence of sexually heretical appetites (frequently unrequited) is reliable in any population. What’s making you uncomfortable appears to be the acknowledgement of that fact, instead of the perpetual denial-unto-obliteration previously prevailing.

Larisa (through megaphone): I SUPPORT ZOEY IRWIN IN HER NON-STRAIGHT SEXUAL ORIENTATION! YOUR LESBIANISM IS ALRIGHT WITH ME, ZOEY!!! NOBODY SHOULD JUDGE ZOEY FOR HER DESIRES TOWARDS OTHER GIRLS!! IF YOU’RE NOT LESBIAN LIKE HER, IT’S NO DIFFERENT THAN HAVING AN UNWANTED BOY HANGING AROUND YOU!!! TRY TO BE NICE TO ZOEY IN THIS DIFFICULT TIME!!! I SUPPORT ZOEY IRWIN IN HER NON-STRAIGHT SEXUAL ORIENTATION!! ….

@ Tucci78:
While the original commenter may have gone way too far, it’s also true that such inclusion has become fashionable lately. In general, it’s almost like “token gay/lesbian” is the new “token black”, which stands out even more than “token black” because we’re talking about a group that only makes up 1-5% of the population. Whether this applies to Sandra and Woo as well remains to be seen, however.

To be completely fair, in the absence of the filter of sexual arousal, all sexual activity is rather disgusting. This feeling of disgust is predominantly coming from the set of instincts that evolved in response to communicative disease.

Logically there is nothing inherently wrong with their actions, as no one is being harmed.

In other words, I’m going to judge you, not for having a “closed mind” (I abhor rhetoric), but rather for being ruled by your instictive impulses with regard to something where you have the time to develop a more sophisticated understanding. I’m judging you because you have chosen to judge others without thinking.

Judge not, lest you be judged. Personally, I’d rather judge carefully and accept being judged by others, but only so long as their willing to do so thoughtfully. The critiques from when that is done are invaluable, after all.

Marginal character development? And here I thought we would find out who won the duel. I was expecting the instructor to win since that would develop the plot more. But now I’m wondering “will Novil dodge the expected outcome”? It’s happened before. Good writing in this strip, generally.

@ Valkeiper2012:
Unlike the other anon I will judge you for you comment on open-mindedness.

As you state: “…there is such a thing as being so ‘open minded’ your brains fall out.”, you seem to imply that there is a point at which being open-minded is bad. I’m not entirely sure what kind of situation you must be alluding to because being open minded is synonymous with: unbiased, unprejudiced, nonpartisan, neutral, etc.

All of these things are wholly positive. There are no advantages to being biased or prejudiced. These traits can only restrict your view on the world and other people. Remaining neutral allows for clarity and logical decision. To say the opposite, that acting based on personal bias, is better is naive and thoughtless. There is no such thing as remaining too open-minded. In the end you’ll only obstruct your view on the world.

But maybe that’s what you want, to see the world as you’d like to see it. If that’s the case I’ve got bad news for you. This isn’t your world to define. No single person decides what is true, but the open-minded can see it while close-minded ones see only what they want to see.

@ pip25:
In a webcomic that’s already given us talking raccoons, European squirrels living in American forests, foxes who are friends with the aforementioned two, carnivorous squirrels, families of Burmese ninjas, diabetic pyromaniacs and other unusual sights, I hope we’re not going to use “small percentage of the population at large” as an argument against including a non-heterosexual character…

@ Greenwood Goat:
Honestly, I’m sort of afraid of something like that… Larisa already doesn’t really do much to maintain the moral high ground where Zoey is concerned, and her using this as ammo would be kind of awful.

On a semi-related note, I kind of hope this isn’t put on hold like it would be in some other strips. Not that I expect us to immediately go into an arc, but from Michelle’s expressions in the third and fourth panels, she clearly realizes what’s going on, and it seems to be something of a surprise toher, and yet a few authors would immediately put this on hold, carrying on with the two of them as usual until deciding to bring the subplot back. I hope that doesn’t happen here; it feels like there should be some fallout, however minor, even before the end of this scene, and certainly the next time we see them.

(…boy, that sounded pushier than I intended… sorry, it’s just something that annoys me when I see it, and not just in the context of homosexuality, either.)

@ Other Anon:
You do however fail to see that no individual can fully comprehend all scenarios to a degree where nothing can go wrong with one’s thinking. Only an omniscient being could perform such a task. We as humans have a very limited perception of the world around us, and lack the ability to easily understand things from all angles, because many times there is conflict between ideas. We therefore base our perceptions on the circumstances that define our perspective, which include how we define our morals, our personality, and many other factors that make us individuals, in order to define true and false. But if we decrease the number of defining feature to our perspective, then we become indecisive and begin losing the ability the comprehend our environment for ourselves leading us to believe EVERYTHING is true. We cease to have a defining perspective and can no longer think for ourselves. Of course the exact opposite would lead to not being able to comprehend alternatives entirely, true or false. Therefore you CAN go too far in either direction.

Boy, I’m sure glad this isn’t Larissa. There are maybe 1, 2 other lesbian girls in this school, tops. Pretty much that one redhead with the bowl cut and that’s it.

Interesting. How did you calculate your estimate? Wouldn’t it depend ENTIRELY on how large their school is? Has the size of the student body ever been mentioned?

Also, don’t statistics place gay orientations somewhere around 1 to 6 percent? And these don’t always group that together with bi orientations, either, which could mean more opportunities for Zoey.

If they live in a town of say 9,000, that should mean about 2,500 primary (K-12) school students. If we limit romance to those within 1 year difference of Zoey, that’d include 3 grades. With about 200 per grade, that’s 600 near Zoey’s age. Divide that in half to get girls. 300 x 0.05 (5%) = 10 girls. And that’s a rough estimate.

@ Raen:
Novil has been careful to not cause fighting between the fans, and may have used this comic to test the water. If the topic appears to be too unpopular or controversial, then it could be written off as Zoey actually just daydreaming and not paying attention to the direction see was facing, or at least toning it down. And if it wasn’t unpopular then it could be continued in whatever way Novil saw most fit. He also could write it off for Zoey to use for another character, and used Zoey only because she isn’t supported by the fans.

So far it seems pretty calm down here in the comments, so it might just be full steam ahead.

Oh, and while Larissa is not the least bit shy about kissing boys and such, let’s not forget two things about her:

1) She actually kissed Sandra (Too lazy to find page, but Larissa made a hilarious, if suggestive comment after-the-fact)
2) Larissa has stuck exclusively to Landon, her new boyfriend, for some time now. By that measure, she’s NOT a floozy.

@ xpacetrue: That was just a riff off an old strip. I have no idea how many lesbians there are at their school.

@ Anonymous: I have no doubt he has every intention to, eventually, go “full steam ahead”; that’s not what I’m worried about. What I’m worried about is this moment having no repercussions until the story is “ripe,” as often happens with subplots in serial media, especially gag-a-day comics.

Let’s say that Christopher is not 100% knowledgeable about science. He knows about Newton’s Laws of Motion, but not the kinematic equations, and he has a standing “agree to disagree” relationship with Calculus (and to be fair it wasn’t Calculus’ fault, she’s not very good at making new friends and the person who was introducing her made her look like a bit of a snobby rich kid, and well, things didn’t work out) .

…hang on, where was I going with this?

Ah, right – Christopher. He knows some basic science and maths, but nothing beyond high-school level. He’s not anti-science, he’s just not geek-level enthusiastic about it. And like the average joe, he thinks we landed on the moon. Because, well… we did. He hasn’t proven it for himself, he’s just accepted it as given because it’s common knowledge, like the fact that France is west of Germany.

Now then, let’s say Christopher runs into another person, let’s call him Chuck. Chuck is a moon landing conspiracy theorist, and as they are wont to do, when the subject comes up, he of course starts listing all the reasons the videos were fakes filmed on a set in Chicago or wherever.

Now then, I would dismiss Chuck’s ramblings without a thought. I know enough physics and have done enough reading up to know that the hoax ‘proofs’ aren’t actually proofs at all and often confirm the moon landings rather than discredit them. And of course I can always point out the retroflectors that were left behind and the telescope photos of the landing sites where you can actually see the faint shadow of the footprints between the lander and the experiments they set up. Christopher, on the other hand, doesn’t know enough science to refute Chuck’s claims. As far as he can see, there is no flaw in the hoax conspiracy, and several flaws in the official story.

This is where the “being too open-minded” idea comes into play. In this case, being a little close-minded and saying “you’re talking rubbish, everyone knows we went to the moon” would result in Christopher continuing to believe the correct version of events. Being open-minded on the other hand and accepting Chuck’s version would result in him believing a professionally painted, but shakily constructed, modern folk tale. By being too ‘open-minded’ he is now further from the truth that he was before.

Now, you would be right to argue that sticking with the official version just because “everyone knows it’s right” is not a firm foundation, and it would be much better to actually learn about it yourself and understand just what was going on with the moon landings, and open-mindedness is the key to getting to that point – but in the sense that it can allow you to be led astray by someone who knows how to argue convincingly, then yes: open-mindedness can, in specific situations, be considered “bad”.

Oh and FYI: The inclusion of homosexuals into regular comics as regular people started back in the early 1990s at least. Marvel character Northstar came out as gay in 1992 or thereabouts. It’s not new, or radical or edgy any more (unless you have homophobia and have been blotting all of this sort of thing out), and the “bandwagon” has become just another road to take.

Same thing here.
Wonder why? Trend? Because some religions say/used to say it is bad? Trying to proove how open-minded one is?

Hearing that homosexuality is cool on radio, tv, internet, etc… Hey, wake up, it’s mainstream now, and even advertising use it. (good news is we might have a way to limit human growing population / though the religious zealot of all kind will continue to multiply)

Seeing all the bad reviews on the comment of Valkeiper2012, I’d say that what is transgressive now is to think that homosexuality is not that cool. In a few year, you won’t even have the right to think otherwise, It would be a hate crime.

Now about this comic. I really liked how the story of the relationship of Cloud and Sandra was set, it seemed so natural that anyone can associate with. But, when I saw the last strip including Gunnergrig court, I almost knew something I wouldn’t like was coming. So now I am out of here, so I’ll keep a good opinion on this comic before it falls in this way to easy trap.

Now, every little censor out here will be able to click the dislike button, I don’t care. If that make your day better, go ahead.

@ Anime fan:
Unless you’re a shy heterosexual boy that thinks too much, then it’s everything but magical.
Then it’s flying solo for the rest of your life.
I’m 25 and haven’t lived out my sexuality to this day because women hate shy men without self-confidence more than anything on this planet.

Now this puts Zoey’s bitchiness in regards to Sandra and Larisa in an interesting, all-new light: She might be very well be insecure in her own sexuality… Actually, her bullying them could be thought of as a gender-flipped variation of how some boys teart girls. (Calvin and Susie’s belligerent relationship comes to mind.)